Hiram stood there for a moment longer, absorbing all that he had been told. He was stunned that his overseer had walked out on him. If you couldn’t depend on your overseer, who was paid well for his services, then who could you depend on?
“I appreciate your tellin’ me everything,” Hiram said, looking from one slave to another. “Now get out of this pantry and get to work. I’ll be expecting some mighty good food on my dining table after I return from speaking with Colonel Cox at the fort.” He leaned into each of the servants’ faces in turn, hoping to intimidate them into obeying him.
“If you leave, I won’t be far behind,” he warned. “As for those who have already left, they’ll pay for their disobedience. I’m going to find them. Do you hear? I’m going to find them! They are gone for now. But you’re still here. And I expect you to obey me, same as always. Do you understand?”
They all nodded, then filed past him out of the pantry.
They scurried through the house, returning to their usual chores, each one different.
“That’s more like it,” Hiram muttered.
He went to his gun cabinet, unlocked it, and took a rifle from it, too rattled by all that had happened to miss the rifle Lavinia had taken.
He grabbed a pocketful of bullets, then went outside and stood at the edge of the tobacco field.
He mentally counted how many slaves were still there, stunned at how many had deserted him.
He hurried to one of the heftiest men and grabbed him by the arm. “In which direction did those slaves who deserted me go?” he asked, his jaw tight.
“North,” the man said, pointing in that direction.
That meant that the runaway slaves had not gone into the Everglades to hide. They were headed out of Florida.
His jaw tightened as he stepped away from the slave and stood with his hands on his hips. He just couldn’t let the runaway slaves go.
Surely with the colonel’s help, they could be found. If so, he’d punish them good and then give them the hardest work he could come up with.
“Get back to work,” he said, turning and glaring at those who had stopped to stare at him. “Now. Do you hear? Now. And don’t you think of tryin’ to escape while I’m gone. I’ll be back soon. You’d best be here.”
They all nodded quickly and returned to their harvesting of the tobacco.
Hiram ran to the stable and threw a saddle onto his best steed, a white mare, and mounted it. Then he rode off, ignoring the hunger that ate away at his gut. He’d already lost too much time by lying in bed, wallowing in self-pity for having lost Lavinia.
Once he reached Fort Adams, Hiram wasted no time in getting to Colonel Cox’s office.
He saw the look the colonel gave him and understood the reason for it. Hiram had never allowed himself to look so disheveled in the presence of others.
But that was the least of his concerns. He wanted his slaves back and would go to any length to reclaim them.
“Well, now, look what the cat dragged in,” Colonel Cox said, gazing at Hiram over his desk. “Lord, man, have you forgotten how to shave and bathe? And look at your clothes. Aren’t those the same duds you wore when we were playing poker the other night?”
He sniffed and frowned. “And do you know how bad you stink?” he said, waving a hand toward Hiram. “Step back. Do you hear? Step back away from my desk and then tell me why you’re here so you can leave. I don’t savor havin’ your company in this condition.”
“I need help,” Hiram said, ignoring Cox’s command to step back. Instead, he placed the palms of his hands on the desk and leaned even closer to the colonel. “Fred, did you hear me? I need your help.”
“What’s happened?” Colonel Cox asked, arching an eyebrow. He placed his fingertips together before him.
“Disaster,” Hiram said, suddenly sinking into a chair across the desk from the colonel. “The worst of it is that Lavinia is gone. She wasn’t there when I returned home from the fort. And then after I awakened from sleeping off my drunken stupor, Idiscovered that more than half of my slaves have fled the plantation. They’re headed north, out of Florida. I need your help, Fred. I need it now. With you and your soldiers’ help, I can get my slaves back. But I think Lavinia is gone forever. I’ve got to forget about her.”
“And so you’ve discovered the pitfalls of bein’ a slave owner, have you?” Fred said, relaxing into his chair and chuckling. “You know, I have never thought much of owning slaves, but there are many, like you, who do. Well, that’s nothing to do with me. I’ve got no orders to chase after runaways. No, Hiram, I won’t help you get those slaves back. Had you treated them humanely, I doubt they’d have left. So be on your way, Hiram. I’ve better things to do than waste my time on you.”
“Not even if it’s to go after Chief Wolf Dancer?” Hiram taunted, knowing how much the colonel would like to get his hands on the only chief in the area who had outwitted the military.
“But you said the slaves went north,” Colonel Cox replied, arching an eyebrow. “Which is it? North or in the direction of the chief’s island?”
“I’m not sure,” Hiram said. “Who’s to say whether that slave who told me the runaways went north told me the truth? Maybe they went in the opposite direction. In any case, this would be a good opportunity to go looking for that island.”
“I told you I don’t believe in slavery, and I don’t ever want to try and find that island,” Colonel Cox grumbled. “I wouldn’t send my regiment into thatswampy mess for any reason. There are too many mysterious things going on in the Everglades. Nope. I won’t send any of my men to fight against the likes of mysterious white panthers, nor floating and flying ghostly apparitions. It’s much safer staying away from there. Anyway, Chief Wolf Dancer hasn’t caused me any problems. I see no need to attack him, and I especially don’t want any of my men to come face-to-face with that white panther that stalks anything with two legs.”
“That white panther is only a myth,” Hiram said, laughing. “It’s only a tale made up to scare whites outta the swamp and away from the Indians’ island.”
He leaned farther over the desk. “I’m begging you,” he said thickly. “My whole life is going to be changed if I don’t get those slaves back. I’m accepting that I’ve lost Lavinia. But I don’t want to lose my tobacco. It’s ready to harvest. It takes a lot of work to get it harvested.”
“Then go and do it yourself,” Colonel Cox said, laughing. “And if you need those slaves so badly, you go into the Everglades yourself and find them. But consider this: If they did go there, by now they are probably dead, killed by snakes, alligators, the panther, or the swampy water itself.”
Hiram glared at the colonel with his one eye, then turned and left angrily.
He didn’t see Colonel Cox standing at a window watching him, smiling, as Hiram rode away on his steed, not so much angry as embarrassed by defeat.
“Virgil, it’s because of you,” Hiram cried to the heavens. “You had the loyalty of the slaves. You taught them to hate me, didn’t you, Virgil? I hope you’re rotting in hell!”
For the first time he could remember, tears sprang to Hiram’s eyes.
Chapter Twenty-three
A pity beyond all telling
Is hid in the heart of love.
—William Butler Yeats
A youthful voice sounded outside of Wolf Dancer’s closed door, interrupting Joshua in the middle of a sentence.
Joshua glanced over at Wolf Dancer, who rose to his feet and walked to the door.
Wolf Dancer looked over his shoulder at Dorey. He recognized the voice as belonging to Running Bear and wondered how she was going to react to seeing the two young braves who had caused her such alarm and fear. He was sure that she too had recognized the voice.
Wolf Dancer had expected the two boys to come this morning to offer an apology to Dorey for the way they had treated her.
Thus far they had avoided her, and Wolf Dancer had decided not to rush the issue. He wanted to give the boys enough time to rea
lize what they had done. He wanted the apology to Dorey to be sincere.
Dorey had stiffened when she recognized the voice and now saw Wolf Dancer glance over his shoulder ather. She wasn’t sure how to interpret that look, but she knew how she felt: uneasy!
She had yet to come face-to-face with her young assailants, and she wasn’t sure how she would react to the sight of them.
She sat still, filled with anxiety at what might happen in these next few moments. She hoped that when she saw those boys again she wouldn’t be filled with hatred. She wanted to forget that the incident had ever happened, for she knew she must learn to get along with the two boys as well as all the other Seminole people, at least until her mother made other plans for their future.
Something told Dorey that Lavinia was so in love with Wolf Dancer that she might never want to leave him.
She had seen that love in her mother’s eyes whenever she was around Wolf Dancer. She had seen it in the chief’s eyes as well.
They were certainly in love, even though it was forbidden for a white woman to love a red man. But she and her mother were no longer among whites! They were with the peace-loving Seminole.
And if Dorey had her way about their future, she would stay in this village. While she was with Wolf Dancer, she felt safe. She had known she could trust him the moment she heard the kindness in his voice.
And he treated Dorey’s mother with such gentle care that she felt he might be the very one to put everything right in her mother’s world.
Her mother had not loved the man she’d married. She deserved to find a man she could love now.
Lavinia’s insides tightened as Wolf Dancer opened the door and peered outside. From where she sat, she could see past him to the two young braves standing there.
She could only conclude that these were the two boys who had abducted Dorey. They had yet to come and apologize to her. Surely that was why they were here now.
She glanced over at Dorey to see how she was reacting and found her daughter looking at the young braves, too. Lavinia saw a mixture of feelings in Dorey’s eyes, but the overriding emotion was anger. And Dorey had cause to be angry. She could have died in the murky waters of the Everglades.
Just as Lavinia had been bitten by a snake, Dorey could have been bitten, too, and she would not have survived the bite because she had been left alone to fend for herself!
Lavinia was surprised when Wolf Dancer welcomed the two young braves kindly—she thought they should have been reprimanded and made to apologize.
But she loved Wolf Dancer and everything about him, so she believed that however he had decided to treat the young men was surely best. He was a man of much intelligence, and also patience.
But she couldn’t help feeling he had been patient enough with those two young men as far as she was concerned. She would enjoy giving them a piece of her mind.
But she knew it was not her place to speak up, or scold them. Wolf Dancer would take care of this.
Wolf Dancer stepped outside with Running Bear and Deer Shadow. He saw the uneasiness in their eyes as they looked up at him.
“My chief, Deer Shadow and I would like to apologize to Dorey, and then we would like to invite her to join in the fun with us and our friends this morning,” Running Bear said as he peered around Wolf Dancer and made eye contact with Dorey, who was staring angrily at him.
Wolf Dancer looked from one boy to the other, then placed a hand on the bare shoulder of each. “You know the wrong that you did, do you not?” he asked, his jaw tight. “You know that it could have ended in tragedy?”
Both braves nodded anxiously.
“We are very sorry to have gone against all that my mother and father, and…you…have taught us,” Running Bear said. “We did not want to harm Dorey, only to spend time with her. We know nothing of her world. We have been on the island since we were born. Do you not understand why we wanted to learn about the white world? We were going to tell her of our ways, too. It would have been an exchange of knowledge between us.”
He lowered his eyes. “We should not have waited until it was so late in the day to take her to our tree house,” he said, swallowing hard.
Then he looked quickly up into Wolf Dancer’s eyes. “If we had brought her to the tree house at an earlier hour, we could have talked and then released her and let her return to her home before night fell,” he said. “As it was, she came in her canoe toolate for us to talk at length with her. That is why we left her there alone.”
“But we regret having done it,” Deer Shadow blurted out. “We have learned our lesson. You can trust us, Chief Wolf Dancer. We will never go against the rules of our people again. But…but…we do want the girl’s friendship now, for as long as she will be at our village. If she accepts our apology and wants to join our fun, will you allow it?”
Wolf Dancer had listened intently to what had been said, and he had heard true regret in the braves’ voices. He knew it was important for the young people to put this unfortunate incident behind them. If Wolf Dancer had his way, both Dorey and her mother would not want to return to the life they had left behind, but instead would spend their futures with him and his Seminole people.
He turned and gazed at Dorey. “You have heard,” he said quietly. “Do you hear the sincerity in their voices? They regret what they did to you. Can you accept their apology, or would you rather not join them in their fun today?”
Dorey had not been able to quell her excitement at the idea of joining the children in their games. She had seen the fun they had while she had silently observed them.
She understood why the young braves had captured her.
She herself had hungered for knowledge of the Seminole.
That was why she had sought answers in the books in her father’s study.
She rose to her feet, and as her mother, Twila, and Joshua watched, she went and stood beside Wolf Dancer. She could not help feeling nervous about what she was going to do, for although she did want to forgive these young men, she might never forget her fear while she was alone in the tree house, and later in the garita.
“Are you truly sorry for what you did?” she asked guardedly, looking from one boy to the other. She saw the humbleness of their expressions, and she knew deep inside that they did regret their actions.
“We are very sorry,” Running Bear said, tears shining in his eyes. “Will you let us make it up to you? Will you come and meet our friends and join in our games?”
Deer Shadow suddenly pulled out his right arm, which he had kept behind him, and smiled broadly as he reached out to Dorey and showed her what he had kept hidden.
“We made these game darts just for you,” Deer Shadow said, proudly displaying the darts, which had been made from corncobs and feathers.
“They are for me?” Dorey said, her eyes widening as she gazed at the beautifully colored feathers on the darts.
“For always,” Deer Shadow said, holding them closer to her. “Please take them and come with us to play darts with our friends.”
Dorey slowly reached a hand out toward him, then smiled as he laid the lovely darts in her palm. “They are very pretty,” she murmured. She looked from one boy to the other. “Are they truly mine?”
“Yes, and we have made another set for your black friend,” Running Bear said as he brought out the darts he had hidden behind his back. “Will she come, too?”
Twila had heard everything, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw the darts that the young braves had made especially for her.
She scampered to her feet and went to stand beside Dorey. When Running Bear held the darts closer to her, she slowly opened her hand and accepted them.
“Thank you,” she murmured, her eyes bright with excitement.
Dorey turned and smiled at her mother. “May I go and play with the children?” she asked. She turned to Joshua. “May Twila?”
Both parents quickly nodded.
Lavinia sighed with a mixture of relief and happiness as she w
atched Dorey and Twila join the two young braves. They were all soon laughing together as they ran and joined the others who were waiting for them.
Wolf Dancer closed the door and sat down beside Lavinia.
“It is a good day,” he said, gently taking her hand in his. “You do believe the boys were sincere?” “The gifts they made for Dorey and Twila proved their sincerity,” Lavinia said, relishing the touch of Wolf Dancer’s hand in hers. It seemed that suddenly everything in her and her daughter’s world was being righted.
Even Joshua and Twila’s lives held much morepromise than they ever could have at the plantation. They were now as free as anyone could ever want to be. They were among people who did not scorn them because of the color of their skin. They were treated as equals by the Seminole.
Joshua had sat quietly by, watching and listening to everything, glad to see that Wolf Dancer and Lavinia seemed so happy.
Joshua had noticed the undercurrents between Wolf Dancer and Lavinia from the first moment they had come together. Surely something more than friendship was developing between them. Both were widowed, and they were very obviously attracted to one another.
Sensing that these two people wanted to be alone, Joshua rose to his feet and walked to the door. “I’se needed in the cornfield,” he said, opening the door. “It is harvesttime back at the plantation. It is harvest-time here as well. I will go and help harvest de corn.” “Joshua, that is kind, but not necessary,” Wolf Dancer said, smiling up at him, and understanding what was behind Joshua’s planned exit. Joshua was a wise man and had seen how Wolf Dancer and Lavinia felt about one another. He sought to give them privacy.
“I’se good in de fields,” Joshua said, nodding and smiling. “Jest you two sit there and enjoy one another’s company.”
Joshua hurried outside, closing the door behind him.
Suddenly there was silence in the room as Lavinia and Wolf Dancer gazed into one another’s eyes.
Lavinia felt so much for Wolf Dancer, yet she was a little afraid of those feelings.
Although she thought he was falling in love with her, too, it seemed too soon after her husband’s death to admit to such passion. How could she explain that she and her husband had never truly been in love? They had loved, but only in a gentle, caring way.
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